1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a molded carrying case for supporting and enclosing an article. For example, this case may be used to support and enclose a gas lantern, or a similar article of camping equipment. It may also be used to carry tools or any other objects or articles which are desirably protected during transportation and for storage.
The carrying case of the present invention permits any article which it stores to be easily placed therein or removed therefrom, yet securely retains the article in the case even when the case is open. The article carrying case of the present invention has particular utility for carrying and storing relatively tall articles in an upright position. For example, this case may be used to store gas lanterns which should be held in the position that prevents spilling of fuel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Article and tool carrying cases have been devised in the past. In particular, cases for storing articles such as gas lanterns in an upright position that prevents spilling of fuel have been developed. Such cases typically were made of metal such as steel or aluminum. However, metal cases are characterized by relatively high weight and cost. Excess case weight is particularly objectionable when the case is used to store camping equipment since the case and its contents are often transported over large distances by the camper. Moreover, metal cases may be dented by impact which, if sufficient, may even damage the article which is being carried.
Molded plastic article carrying cases have also been proposed. However, molding problems have been encountered in forming extremely large cases. Moreover, certain configurations of carrying cases may not be easily molded because of the large number of reentrant formations therein. Such configurations require numerous molding steps if the number of component pieces of the case is to be minimized. However, even if a case design has relatively few parts, difficulties still arises when blow molding techniques are used. In particular, a double walled parison may be stretched excessively in various areas of the molding rendering those areas unacceptably weak. Accordingly, prior article carrying cases made either of the metal or molded plastic have certain drawbacks.